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picture gallery software for the Boards


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Hi, Everyone:

 

In 2010, we will be doing a lot of upgrades to www.bordercollie.org: we'll be redesigning the main site, upgrading the software used to run the boards, and "reskinning" the boards so that the design will match that of the rest of the site. When we finish, things should look a lot better and actually *be* a lot better.

 

My question to all of you is the following. We are considering purchasing a picture gallery plugin for these boards that would allow users to upload pictures to the site, comment on those pictures, create albums, make slideshows and ecards, and other fun stuff. The gallery would also make it possible to upload video and other sorts of multimedia files. You can read about this plugin at this URL.

 

If we did this, we would retire the very popular "People's Border Collie Gallery" forum, since it would replace it. What do you folks think? Would you rather keep things the way they are with that forum, or would you prefer the new software?

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Personally, I don't care for that approach. Looks like each person would have a gallery. After looking for "new Posts", would I then have to go to the gallery and search trough that to find the newest pictures?

 

I rather like having the pictures in a post. I know there is something new, and I can decided if I want to go see those photos. Honest, I do skip some of those photo posts. So I like a post with a title, which lets me have at least a hint as to whether I want to look at the pictures.

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I do like the current method because it is easy to see "what's new" and also to research to find older topics. I don't post many pictures, only put those I post to Photobucket, can post photos directly from my files (although I don't like those thumbnail formats and wish they would post like the Photobucket images do), and would not go to any more effort to post my own photos than I do now - which isn't much effort.

 

I really appreciate your asking but, for someone like me who doesn't post many photos online at all, the current method is certainly sufficient.

 

Thank you (and Eileen) for all the work you do to provide this forum (and the entire website, and Littlehats, where I learned about my first clinic ever and which rather helped get me started).

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My board uses a photo galery option AND a thread method of posting pics. Is there a reason to replace the current forum?

 

None except a general sense of tidiness--I assumed that having both would be redundant. Brad, can you post a link to your board, so we can take a look at it? Thanks!

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Whatever you guys decide is fine with me, I mostly just wanted to ditto what Sue said...

 

Thank you (and Eileen) for all the work you do to provide this forum (and the entire website, and Littlehats, where I learned about my first clinic ever and which rather helped get me started).
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Brad, can you post a link to your board, so we can take a look at it? Thanks!

 

We're at http://www.canreef.com

 

We have both a photo gallery and the forums, which contain sub forums for photos. It's a little more detailed, as we run photo contests and monthly theme threads. We also have a forum for Photography, where users can discuss how to take the type of great shots others post :rolleyes:

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We're at http://www.canreef.com

 

We have both a photo gallery and the forums, which contain sub forums for photos. It's a little more detailed, as we run photo contests and monthly theme threads. We also have a forum for Photography, where users can discuss how to take the type of great shots others post :rolleyes:

 

 

Sorry to go off topic, but are you into saltwater aquariums Brad? My husband and I have a saltwater aquarium maintenance business and have been in the hobby for 10yrs.

 

 

On topic, the saltwater message board we are on http://www.salt-city.org has a gallery where you can do all that you are talking about but we still keep a photo gallery. It is works out well for us because you can upload right to the site. But really either way works well. I wouldn't get rid of the photo sharing forum though because that is where most people go to look at pictures even if you have a photo gallery.

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Sorry to go off topic, but are you into saltwater aquariums Brad? My husband and I have a saltwater aquarium maintenance business and have been in the hobby for 10yrs.

 

Yes, I have a 90g reef, been into reef tanks for about 15yrs now. Although my herding, agility and flyball has cut into my tank time a lot these days :rolleyes:

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One other thought (mirroring what someone else said) is that folks who choose to have a gallery (or Utube, for that matter) can always post a link here - like Denise or Christine have done. That allows them to make their photos available to whomever they wish, wherever, and it doesn't require anything extra here but posting the link. Just a thought, and that much less for you to maintain and pay for.

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I don't think it's necessary. That's what sites like Flickr are for. I also assume it would increase the server load quite a bit?

 

It wouldn't really increase the server load, but of course it *would* use up disk space. But it sounds like just about everyone thinks it wouldn't be necessary, which is what I wanted to find out. Thanks, folks! We'll let you know when we'll be upgrading the board's general software, which I hope will be in the next month or so.

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My thanks as well for all the good work you do to keep us informed in so many ways. I must say that the BC boards is one of the first places I go each day! And I'm also fine with the way the photo site works now :rolleyes:

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Like everyone else, I really like the current setup. On the other hand, it's a perennial problem here for new people to figure out how to post pictures, and if they choose the option of uploading their pictures here directly (rather than linking to a photo on a site like Flickr), I find the viewing experience much less enjoyable. The thumbnail that shows in their post is too small, and if you click on it, it often takes forever to load and resize, so I've learned to just avoid doing that.

 

I think it would be a huge improvement if you could make it easier for folks who don't or won't have Flickr-type accounts to include their pictures in their posts.

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Like everyone else, I really like the current setup. On the other hand, it's a perennial problem here for new people to figure out how to post pictures, and if they choose the option of uploading their pictures here directly (rather than linking to a photo on a site like Flickr), I find the viewing experience much less enjoyable. The thumbnail that shows in their post is too small, and if you click on it, it often takes forever to load and resize, so I've learned to just avoid doing that.

 

I think it would be a huge improvement if you could make it easier for folks who don't or won't have Flickr-type accounts to include their pictures in their posts.

I wholeheartedly agree with this. Clicking on idividual thumbnails and waiting for the thumbnails to load, especially if there are a lot of them, gets old fast. Consequently I often find myself simply skipping those photos.

 

J.

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I often don't even click the attachments - I check the thumbnails and that's about it. And it's not only a question of speed. So those of you who only use this option to display your pictures - be aware a lot of people are not big fans of attachments embedded into your posts. Just get yourselves a free account on a photo sharing site and share to your heart content :rolleyes:

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